4/13/09

Two weeks without television

The transition from TV to no TV has gone more smoothly than I imagined. It's been about 2 1/2 weeks now, and none of us is feeling any pain.

Red Chief has gone from asking where the TV went to informing people that we don't need one. We've replaced the after-lunch movie ritual with one that's much more enjoyable: reading a chapter from a book together. We just finished The House at Pooh Corner and have started Little House in the Big Woods. I'm constantly surprised by how much he understands and how much he enjoys these books.

He's also started reading more by himself--looking at his favorite books and talking about what happens in them. He also brings me books to read to him. Formerly, we read only before his nap and bedtime. Now, I never know when he'll want a reading session--and I'm happy to comply if I'm not working on something important.

I thought we'd be relying on the computer to play DVDs a lot more than we have. It's nice to be able to still watch a movie as a family on the computer, but for the most part, I think our DVDs are going to be getting a lot less use in the future.

8 comments:

A lot of people don't realize that even though young kids can't read the words does not mean they cannot comprehend the story. I love reading chapter books with my son. I recently started reading to him from a chapter book while his sister naps. It has turned into one of my favorite parts of the day. We are reading Stuart Little. I never watch the TV myself but we do still have one. I've thought about taking the plunge and just getting rid of it but have not done so. We use it primarily for DVDs right now. Maybe one day I'll take the plunge. Maybe this summer. We will be spending most of our time outside anyway.

It only took a couple of days for my kids to stop asking if they could watch a video after school. My kids are a little older, 6 & 3, and I thought it was going to be a lot harder to get them used to not having a TV, but when there isn't one around they find other things to do. Now I wonder how we ever found time to watch movies almost every day. we have a kids' computer so they do get to spend a little time on it, but not too much and only educational like starfall.com. When my oldest was 4 she started listing to books on tape. It allowed me to get the important things done while she got read to. She loved it! She was listening to the Magic Tree House series and loved it! Still does as a matter of fact!